The "three redundancies" of the Song Dynasty was a traditional issue, referring to the phenomenon of redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses that gradually formed since the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. The phenomenon of "redundancy" is the core problem of "three redundancies", which originated in the early Northern Song Dynasty, gradually became serious in the two dynasties of Song Renzong and Yingzong, seriously deteriorated in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, and became more rampant in the Southern Song Dynasty. After the "Shaoxing Peace Conference", although the southern roads gradually entered the right track due to the subsidence of the war, the "History of The Food and Goods of the Song Dynasty" even said that "although Gaozong Nandu lost half of the old things, the rao of the southeast real estate in Yuxi was enough to yu the country", but as far as the overall financial situation of the southeastern region of the Southern Song Dynasty was concerned, the Southern Song Dynasty only barely maintained the balance of payments in the early days. Taking the Northern Expedition of the Kaixi Dynasty as the dividing line, the financial situation of the Southern Song Dynasty showed a completely different appearance, and after the Opening of the Jubilee, the finances of the Southern Song Dynasty deteriorated significantly, and the finances gradually became insufficient.
After Song Lizong ascended the throne, although some reforms were implemented in the areas of salt, coin, and field administration, it was more of a shoe scratching itch and did not solve the long-standing problem of "redundant expenses". At this time, the powerful Mongols in the north destroyed the Jin Dynasty and attacked the Southern Song Dynasty from the north, west and south, and the financial expenditure of the Southern Song Dynasty was even greater. The Heavenly Nobles of the Zhao and Song Dynasties not only did not think of making progress, but became more corrupt and degenerate, laying the groundwork for the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Song Lizong Zhao Yun
First, the overall living conditions of the Zhao clan in the late Song Dynasty
After the Jing Kang Rebellion, the Zhao clan "often migrated to death in military difficulties, and there were no two or three surviving in the south", and the Zhao clan in Tokyo either froze to death or were captured and sent north, and only the two clans of Luoyang and Nanjing Yingtian in the western capital were preserved, and they moved south in an organized way to live in the Fuzhou and Quanzhou clans of present-day Fujian. The Southern Song Dynasty regime set up the Emperor Zhengsi in Lin'anxing, the XiwaiZong Zhengsi in Fuzhou, and the Nanwai Zongzheng in Quanzhou as an institution specializing in the management of the "Zaiyuan" Zongzi, the so-called "Zaiyuan", that is, it still belongs to the jurisdiction of zongzhengsi, and there are also famous books.
After jianyan to the south, the southern song dynasty regime gradually stabilized, and the number of Zhao clans in Fuzhou and Quanzhou became increasingly large, which brought a certain burden to the finances of the Southern Song Dynasty. Taking the statistics of Emperor Nanwaizong of Quanzhou as an example, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the number of zongzi was only 349, and by the sixth year of Emperor Shaoding (1233), the number of zongzi alone "in the court" increased to 1427. After Chunxi, the central government was financially tight, and the funds for supporting the Quanzhou clan were mainly borne by the local government of Quanzhou. Although there are 48,300 yuan of the feng rated case, but with the increase in the number of clans, the amount of the feng increased to more than 145,000 guan, Quanzhou "with the strength of a prefecture, and the cost alone, day by day, day by day, as for this."
Song Gaozong Zhao constructed stills
During the Shaoding period, Zhende Xiu knew Quanzhou, and he keenly discovered the problem of the increasing number of Zongzi in Quanzhou and the problem of local finances being stretched, and at that time there was even an embarrassing situation of "zongzi's giving could not be given, and more than three thousand mouths inside and outside were waiting to be fed". Therefore, he sought subsidies from the central government, and when the central finances could not make ends meet, Song Lizong twice allocated dudu for the Quanzhou localities to sell and serve as a fee for the emperor.
There are also some clans who rely on special interests to frantically accumulate wealth and live a good life, which is in stark contrast to the clans in Quanzhou. Most of their deeds are recorded in some Song people's notes, providing us with some information to understand the living conditions of the late Song Dynasty.
The first was The biological father of Emperor Zhao of Song Dynasty, Zhao And Rui the Prince of Rong. During the Jingding period, Lin'an Xing was in a great famine, and King Rong Zhao and Rui hoarded grain and juqi, hoping to make huge profits. At that time, Ma Guangzu, who was also the treasurer of the Household Department and knew Lin'an Province, asked to see Zhao and Rui and asked for 3 million stones of grain, but Zhao and Rui always avoided seeing each other. Ma Guangzu argued according to reason, Zhao and Rui were forced to release grain, and "hunger was not harmful" that year, and through this small matter, it was obvious that Zhao and Rui hoarded a lot of grain.
The second is that Zhao Mengxi, an imperial family at that time, did not see Shi Cheng, but there are some records in the notes of the Song people. There is a story in the elaborate "Sequel to The Miscellaneous Knowledge of Decoction" called "Black Lacquer Ship", which tells the story of Zhao Mengxi, a member of the clan who enjoys a very enjoyable life. He was extravagant, sinister and cunning, and when he was serving as the capital of the pit, he once built a large black lacquered boat, the board of which was made of fragrant wood, carved with flowers, and at the same time, burned agarwood moth under the board, the aroma was endless, extremely luxurious. At that time, the heavy minister Lü Shikui was also quite amazed after seeing this black paint ship, so he gave Zhao Mengxi a nickname, called "black paint ship". After the Yuan dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, most of the southern Song dynasty clans were relocated to Dadu for resettlement, and Zhao Mengxi died of starvation in Dadu due to the loss of economic resources.
The clans of the Southern Song Dynasty plundered with their privileges and were extremely extravagant, but such rich clan members did not account for the majority after all, and more were poor people living in poverty. The clan belongs to a large parasitic group that does not engage in production, and is enshrined by the people only because of its noble blood, and once it is freed from this sustainable way of exploitation, most of the clan members will fall into a difficult life situation, which can be reflected in the above-mentioned Zhao Mengxi.
At that time, the rulers were also under the guidance of the principle of "all the lu are customized, and no change is needed to shake people's hearts", and they were not very enthusiastic about the abolition of the clan expenses. As a result, on the one hand, the living conditions of the members of the late Song Dynasty were very different, and on the other hand, due to the huge number of them, they caused certain pressure on the central and local finances, which aggravated the deterioration of the financial situation of the late Song Dynasty.
2. The imperial expenses of the two dynasties of Emperor Lizong and Emperor Duzong were unbalanced in their income and expenditure
The Southern Song Dynasty had a very special political pattern, that is, the phenomenon of power politics and power dictatorship was very serious. In the past, there were Qin Juniper and Han Nongxu, and later there were Shi Miyuan and Jia Xiangdao, who specialized in state affairs, formed parties for personal gain, and even participated in the process of abolishing the imperial power, posing a great threat to imperial power.
Emperor Lizong of Song succeeded to the throne with a side branch and succeeded to the throne, mainly relying on the power of The Power Minister Shi Miyuan. In order to maintain his legal status, Song Lizong had to be subject to Shi Miyuan and did nothing politically, which was also the "Yuanmo" period in the early days of Song Lizong's reign. Shi Miyuan ,"The little loyalty of the concubine of Yang Jin, the great handle of the yin thief of the monarch", used the art of sound and color dogs and horses to tempt Song Lizong to indulge in pleasure, in order to achieve the purpose of dictatorship.
After Shi Miyuan's death, Emperor Lizong of Song was pro-government and implemented a policy of "greater reformation", but the financial crisis of the Southern Song Dynasty court deepened day by day, and in view of the serious depreciation of the currency at that time, the serious rise in prices, and the increasing imbalance in the income and expenditure of the imperial court, Wang Mai, Du Fan, Li Zongmian and other ministers went up to advise the emperor to "be pure in heart and widowhood", "save on floating expenses", and "be more frugal in frugality", and "respect the heavens and love the people, self-denial and frugality, and not sinful words", as the ancestral family training that Emperor Zhao and Song always observed, also exerted certain constraints on Song Lizong. At this time, Emperor Lizong of Song was still able to adopt the advice of his courtiers and suppress his own desires. However, soon after, Emperor Lizong of Song revealed the appearance of a emperor who was extravagant and extravagant, "lustful, lazy in political affairs, and power transferred to adulterous ministers", the emperor favored and trusted traitors and eunuchs, and the waste was gradually increasing, and the financial situation of the Southern Song Dynasty deteriorated even more.
Song Dynasty court
In the second year of Jingding (1261), Princess Zhou Han, the daughter of Emperor Lizong, descended to Yangzhen, and the wedding ceremony was "quite grand", the ceremony was grand and costly. The dowry of the princess alone included the true pearl nine four phoenix crown, the pearl jade pendant, the golden leather belt, the northern pearl crown flower grate ring and other things, and almost all the princes and ministers at that time personally sent off, and the scale was grand. And the local festival marshals and magnates also lost time to offer gifts and congratulations, and the Pingjiang shipment made Ma Tianji offer hundreds of Luo Tianji fine willow cages, hundreds of gilded gold and silver locks, and a hundred pieces filled with zhiyi (Note: The eighteenth realm coin issued by the Southern Song Dynasty is named "Zhiyi" and the seventeenth realm is named "Bottle"), which is deeply pleasing to Lizong. After the wedding, Zaizhi, princes, attendants and others can receive gold, silver, copper coins, huizi and other rewards according to their rank, and as for other dowries, there are countless other dowries.
Song Duzong had a natural defect in intelligence, and when he was in the Eastern Palace, he indulged in wine, and after he took the throne, he was even more entrusted to the power of the minister, and concentrated on coveting pleasure. He was still extravagant and wasteful under the condition of the state's financial situation and the people's livelihood, and the "redundant fees" situation in the Southern Song Dynasty was even more serious.
Jia Xiangdao
In the fourth year of Xianchun (1268), on the ninth day of the first month of April, Emperor Duzong celebrated his birthday, and he was also extravagant and wasteful like his adoptive father Lizong marrying his daughter, regardless of the decadent national strength at that time, and engaged in pomp and circumstance. Wu Zimu's "Record of Dreams" records that the general process and content of Duzong's birthday are as follows: YiluanSi arranged in advance to set up a mountain shed and curtain, and arrange seats. The wine cups on the feast are like large bowls, made of pure gold and sterling silver, and the bowls for eating are all gold-edged lacquered dishes. The standard of the imperial kitchen's cooking follows the usual practice, and all the "hundred official food tastes" such as food watching, watching dishes, ring cakes, oil cakes, and jujube pagodas are even arranged to be supervised by the banquet library. This practice was criticized by Huang Zhen, who pointed out to the point that the most important problem in the Southern Song Dynasty at that time was that those "gifts from time to time, prayers for the Buddha and the elderly, military personnel to borrow the stickers, and officials to send names to the pre-request", as long as these issues were strictly thrifty, they could greatly alleviate the embarrassing financial situation at that time. Of course, Emperor Duzong did not listen, but was furious, and belittled Huang Zhentian to judge the Guangde Army.
Wen Shijun said
The situation of "redundancy" was an inevitable dead end of the Song Dynasty, which accompanied the two Song Dynasties and three hundred years. But we can't help but think about a question, the situation of "redundancy" seems to exist not only in the Song Dynasty, which was a common problem in ancient society, why should we emphasize the great harm of "redundancy" in the Song Dynasty? How did the Song Dynasty "redundancy" come about?
In fact, "redundant expenses" are closely related to "redundant soldiers" and "redundant officials", and the normal financial expenditure to maintain the normal operation of the imperial system within the scope of the state budget will not have a huge impact on the overall balanced operation of the finances, and the Zhao and Song Dynasties did maintain a long-term peaceful environment, social development, economic prosperity, cultural development, and technological progress, which cannot be ignored.
However, the Southern Song Dynasty only had half of the rivers and mountains left, and although a series of peace agreements were signed with the Jin Dynasty, the overall wartime financial characteristics were more obvious than those of the Northern Song Dynasty. Although the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty, after Emperor Xiaozong, deliberately pursued the ideal monarchical moral demeanor of "being diligent in the state and being frugal in their families", under the constraints of personal factors and the overall political environment of the Southern Song Dynasty, they did not want to and were unable to solve the problem of "redundancy". In the late Song Dynasty, with the continuous advancement of the Song-Mongolian War, the military pressure faced by the Southern Song Dynasty was even greater, and Lizong and Duzong also had the intention of open source, but compared with the huge consumption of extravagance and waste, the financial resources opened by open source could not make up for the financial gap, and the Southern Song Dynasty also went to extinction in this contradictory relationship.
bibliography
[Yuan] Detuo et al.: History of the Song Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1977.
Wu Zimu: Records of Dreams, Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1984.
Written by Wang Shengduo: The Full Text of the History of the Song Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2020.
Zhou Mi: "The Sequel to the Miscellaneous Knowledge of Decoction", The Eighth Edition of the Notes of the Whole Song Dynasty, Elephant Publishing House, 2003.
Mi Ling, Cui Yong, Ding Jianjun, "Analysis on the Causes of Tax Collection Abuses in the Song Dynasty", Journal of Hebei University, No. 6, 2005.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Shenqi)
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